Reader in the Park

by Rachel Maldonado

  “I guess you figured it out. What gave it away?” asked Anna laughing. She was giddy with excitement. “This is going to be great! I've never done this before, so it'll be a new experience for both of us.”

  “Ah, hell,” commented Nikki under her breath. She inhaled deeply, then exhaled slowly. To some extent, the fact that Anna hadn't ever run in a zombie race before made her nervous, but in part, she was also thrilled that this was something that neither of them had ever done. She took another deep breath and decided that she was going to try to excel at it. I'm going to make it to the end of the race and survive the zombie apocalypse race, she thought to herself. After all, there had to be something that she was better at doing than Anna was. Maybe this was it.

  “You look a little frightened.” Anna stepped out of the vehicle and glanced around looking for the registration booth. Nikki hopped out of the Jeep, then began to stretch her legs.

  Anna grinned. “You're really going to do this even though you're scared?”

  “You said it was for charity, right?” Nikki was still stretching out her calf muscles.

  “It is. All proceeds go to the MDA.” Anna paused for a moment wondering if she needed to explain what MDA stood for. “It's the Muscular...”

  “I know what it is,” stated Nikki. “It's the Muscular Dystrophy Association. I can't believe the hospital isn't involved in this race. I've never heard of this 5k race.”

  “This is the first time it's been held here. That could be why. Every year they have it in a new location. Come on. I see the sign up booth over there. I'm sure it's not too late to sign you up.” Anna walked off toward the booth while Nikki followed. She had to jog a few feet to catch up to Anna's pace.

  Nikki and Anna were given the numbers 1013 and 1031.

  Anna chuckled. “Which one do you want to be? Jason or Michael Myers?”

  Nikki was puzzled. “What do you mean?”

  “October thirteenth fell on a Friday this past year, so it looks like our numbers are Friday the 13th and Halloween.”

  Nikki smiled. “I get it. I'm not superstitious. I'll take Jason.”

  Anna handed over two sheets of paper with the numbers 1013 printed on them. Nikki found that they were large stickers, so she peeled one off the page and stuck it to her shirt.

  “Here,” she said handing the other sheet back to Anna. “Do my back.”

  Anna took the sticker and placed it on Nikki's back just below her shoulder blades, then she handed Nikki the 1031. “Here. Do mine.”

  Nikki unpeeled the sticker, then stuck it across Anna's breasts.

  “I could've done the front one myself, silly. Do the back.” Anna turned around, so that Nikki could place the sticker. She stuck it across her lower back.

  “There. All set.” Nikki clapped and rubbed her hands together as if she'd just finished eating a bag of chips and was trying to remove crumbs from her fingers.

  Anna laughed. “Great. Now everyone's going to be staring at my boobs with the 3D numbers popping out at them.”

  “3D double D's? Maybe you'll distract the zombies,” laughed Nikki.

  “Oh, very funny.” Anna began trying to peel her front sticker off so that she could place it on her lower abdomen, but it was too late. The sticker was stuck pretty firmly in place. If she kept trying to mess with it, it would've ripped. Also, the race was about to begin. The announcer was telling all the participants to get to the starting line.

  “That's our cue,” said Nikki. “Let's go.”

  Anna was blushing as they made their way to the starting line. She couldn't help but feel as if everyone was staring at her chest and her oddly placed number.

  “Everyone start your engines!” said the man with the bullhorn. “Ha ha. Just kidding. Just listen to the sound of the starter pistol, folks.” He had his eye closely watching a silver pocket watch to make sure to start the race on time. In his right hand, he already had the starter pistol aimed at the sky. Before they knew it, “Bam!” A single shot was fired! The race had begun!

  A large group of people with numbers plastered across their backs and chests began to run through a large grassy field as hordes of zombies came out in droves to try to capture their flags!

  Nikki made it through the first field of grass unscathed. She still had all three of her flags. She ran past some empty cars with the undead trying to catch her, but she just kept running. Nikki was dodging people left and right, spinning in circles as she ran to avoid her flags from being captured. It was like watching her run down a football field trying to score a touchdown. She was a fierce force to be reckoned with.

  Anna stopped for a moment to watch Nikki. She grinned from ear to ear as she watched Nikki move on to the next stage in the race, the abandoned buildings. No sooner had she stopped to view Nikki leave the other contestants in the dust, when Anna was suddenly tackled by four zombies onto the ground. Two of them grabbed her flags on either side of her, but the other two zombies were busy trying to turn her over on her stomach to capture the flag on her backside.

  “Oh no you don't!” shouted Anna. She pushed their grotesque bodies that were clothed in torn and stained shirts and jeans away from her, stood up, then ran as fast as she could after Nikki. She reached around and still felt her last flag flapping in the wind. She breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't out of the game just yet.

  Many of the contestants had lost flags in the grass field. Now that she was running through the rubble of partly demolished buildings and through a simulated abandoned city, she worried that a zombie might pop out of a window or door to grab her last flag. She jogged along at a steady pace as she watched other runners get ambushed and have all their flags taken from them. She wondered where Nikki was. She could no longer see her, so she assumed she had made it to the next part of the race.

  Anna nearly cleared the last building, when a flesh-eater jumped out of an open doorway to cut her off. Then another one jumped out from another doorway on the opposite side of the building.

  “Shit!” Anna exclaimed. She was nearly into the third leg of the contest. She didn't want to lose her last flag here.

  Just when she thought she was done for, she heard loud footsteps on metal stairs. It was Nikki! She was running down a fire escape being chased by three zombies. From what Anna could tell, Nikki still had all three of her flags.

  One of the zombies that was chasing Anna became distracted and instead of trying to corner Anna had turned completely around to wait for Nikki to climb down the fire escape.

  Nikki charged at the zombie screaming, “You'll never get me alive!” The zombie cowered and braced himself for impact as Nikki knocked him over, then kept running as if she hadn't lost any momentum.

  Anna didn't waste any time, she saw her opportunity to run when Nikki took the zombie out, so she made an escape and took off running after Nikki onto the last part of the competition, the parking lots.

  When Anna reached the parking lots, she found it to be a massive area much like a hospital or university parking lot. There were several lots grouped together with large lamp posts. Each lamp post had a large number and letter signifying the section where a vehicle was parked. Anna was standing in section A, but had to make her way clear across to G where the finish line was. She could hear the crowds of people cheering and shouting.

  Anna jogged steadily making sure to stay aware of all vehicles and not to run too close to any of them. She knew there were probably zombies hiding behind some of the cars. She didn't know why, but the adrenaline rush and the costumes and make-up really made her start to feel as if it was a real apocalyptic situation. Her heart was pounding, she was sweating profusely, and she was worried. Where was Nikki? Had they captured all of her flags? Was she taken out of the race?

  It's not like Anna couldn't defend herself against the undead. They weren't real zombies, after all. All she could do was put her ass into second gear and try to outrun them. She dodged male zombies, female zombies, tall zombies, and even zombies that looked like
children. Each time she escaped a horde of zombies, she'd reach back to make sure her last flag was still there.

  As she got close to the finish line, she was relieved to see that there was only about two-hundred feet left. She could easily have run the last two-hundred feet to the finish line, but out of her peripheral vision she saw three flesh-eaters surrounding a young woman. They were encircling her like vultures as they made groaning and murmuring sounds. She turned briefly as she jogged along to see who it was. She had to catch a better view. It was Nikki!

  Without giving it a second thought, she sprinted toward the three zombies at full speed. “I'm coming to save you, Nikki!” she shouted. One of the zombies was frightened when he saw Anna running toward them. He could see the anger in Anna's face and her eyes had narrowed as she focused in on him. He scurried away in a panic.

  Anna tackled the second zombie and wrestled with him on the ground as she shouted, “Run, Nikki! Run away! You're nearly at the finish line!”

  Nikki ran. She left Anna to fend off the last two zombies as she ran the last two-hundred feet to the end with the crowd jumping for joy in celebration.

  “Calm down lady!” shouted the zombie to Anna. “It's just a race! It's not like we were really going to kill her.”

  The third zombie grabbed Anna's last flag when she rolled over on top of the other zombie she'd been wrestling with. “It's okay. She's out. This is her last flag.”

  The zombie stood up, dusted himself off, then walked off with the other flesh-eater to wait for more contestants.

  Anna walked to the end of the race toward the finish line where Nikki was drinking Sportspro and waiting for her. If Anna had been a dog, she would've walked toward Nikki with her head down low, her eyes averted, and her tail between her legs. It's how she felt. Defeated. “I almost made it,” said Anna sadly.

  “Hey now. Don't be down. You're still a winner.” Nikki smiled. She was dripping with perspiration, had markings of zombie hand paints smeared on her clothing and face, and part of her hair was stuck to her forehead with dirt and sweat, but despite all of that, Anna still thought Nikki was beautiful. She lit up Anna's world and warmed her heart every time she looked at her.

  “I'm still a winner?” asked Anna. “How do you figure?”

  “You're my hero. You rescued me from three zombies that could've stolen all my flags just as I nearly made it to the end of the race. That makes you a winner in my book.”

  Anna forced a grin. She'd been sad that she hadn't completed the race. She was the type of person that always placed in races or always did great at anything that involved sports or athleticism. Her eyes welled up with tears as she smiled. “I am a winner, huh? I guess that first place trophy's going to go on my shelf and not yours,” she said laughing through her tears.

  Nikki shook her head. “I don't think so. It's going in my office.”

  The two girls headed straight to a small stage where the winner was to be awarded a small gold trophy in the shape of a drinking cup except it narrowed as it went down and had two handles on the sides. Nikki was surprised to also receive a giant cardboard check in the amount of $25,000 to represent the amount that was to be donated in her name to the MDA.

  After the short award ceremony and speech, Anna rubbed her stomach as it growled. “Let's get out of here. I'm starving.” Anna proceeded to walk back toward the Jeep.

  “Didn't we just eat pancakes, sausage, and scrambled eggs?” inquired Nikki as she followed Anna to the parking lot.

  “Nope. That was hours ago.” Anna glanced down at her Fitbit watch. “It's nearly lunch time, and I'm starving. I worked up an appetite. Plus, I know this place where this gorgeous gal is supposed to whip us up some hamburgers.”

  “Gorgeous? I don't know about gorgeous.”

  Anna raised her eyebrows. “Oh, you know who I'm talking about?” she asked playfully.

  “Is it a blonde in a sweaty outfit full of paint that just won a zombie 5K? Because I see her every single day when I look in the mirror. I'd say I know her quite well, actually.” Nikki grinned. She was in an especially good mood since she'd won the zombie race. She stood by the Jeep door anticipating that Anna would open it for her.

  Anna laughed at her comment about being full of paint as she opened the Jeep passenger door and held it open for Nikki. “Usually she looks real nice and clean with her hair actually combed.” Anna looked up at Nikki's hair that had been pulled back, but was now beginning to get loose from her hair tie and flap in all directions with the wind.

  “How about we go out to celebrate instead?” asked Nikki. “It'll be my treat.” She tried to pat down her hair to keep it from flying around, then entered the vehicle. She was still trying to fix her hair when Anna entered the Jeep from the driver's side.

  “Is there a dress code? Because if it's a suit and tie required kind of place, I think we'll get kicked right out.” Anna turned on the ignition and began backing out of the parking space. The area was still crowded with people, so she was careful to back out slowly and watch for pedestrians.

  Nikki shook her head. “No, it's more like a hamburger place with a spooky twist. We'll fit right in.”

  “Okay, I'm game to dine anywhere as long as you're paying,” said Anna with a smirk. “Where we headed?”

  “It's this cute place I heard about called Burger Monster. I saw it on Facechat. It had good reviews and the food looks amazing. It's just off of I-35 and Highland.”

  “Oh, I think I know the place. I've driven by there before. It used to be a Billy Bob's Better Burger, right?”

  Nikki giggled. “Yes. That's the place.”

  “Why do you laugh?” asked Anna as she drove onto the on ramp to I-35.

  “Because I never once called it a Billy Bob's Better Burger. When I was growing up I always called it the Four Bees, so I'd always say, 'Mom, let's go eat at the Four Bees,' and Mom always had a snappy comment about why we couldn't eat there like, 'We don't have enough honey to take to the Four Bees to eat there.' With honey meaning money, of course. Or she'd say something corny that rhymed like, 'We don't have to eat at the hive to stay alive.' Get it? Hive? Like as in a beehive?” Nikki laughed at the memories.

  “Your mom sounds a lot like my mom. She never wanted to dine out either. She never came up with any slogans, however. But she usually made us homemade burgers on Wonder Bread and always said they were just as good as dining out. Somehow they never tasted like the restaurant burgers. A Wonder Bread burger tastes just like...well, it tastes just like a Wonder Bread burger,” said Anna laughing. “But at least we never went hungry.”

  Anna drove into the Burger Monster parking lot and grinned as she noticed the restaurant owner had placed a giant inflatable Dracula eating a giant burger near the entrance. Nikki noticed it right away, also. It was slightly taller than the building itself. There's no way they could have missed it.

  “I like that. Too bad we're not dressed as zombies or we really would fit right in with the monster theme,” said Nikki smiling.

  The young women entered the establishment and were surprised to see a replica of the car from the movie Ghostbusters. It was a white car with the Ghostbusters emblem on the doors.

  “Neat,” said Anna as she walked over to it. She took out her cellphone and handed it to Nikki. “Here. Take my picture.”

  Nikki laughed as she took the photo. “Was it one of your favorite movies?” She handed the phone back to Anna.

  Anna viewed her photo with the Ghostbusters car and grinned. “It still is. And I love the new remake with Kate McKinnon and Melissa McCarthy. Thank you for taking the picture. Do you want me to take yours?”

  “No, thanks. I can do without a photo. As far as the Ghostbusters new movie, I haven't seen it. I'm not even sure that I've seen the original movie from the 80's.”

  “What!?” asked Anna stunned. “Oh, that's right. You don't watch much television. Well, we'll have to have a movie night someday and watch a Ghostbusters marathon.”

  “A mara
thon? How many movies could there be?” asked Anna giggling. She walked up to the counter to peruse the large menu boards that were above the cash register.

  Nikki followed close behind. “There were two Ghostbusters movies, one and two. Plus there was the new remake.”

  “Three movies. Would you call that marathon, really? Or is that more like a triple feature?”

  “Welcome to Burger Monster. Can I take your order?” asked a man behind the counter that was dressed as the Wolfman.

  “I'll have the Twilight burger,” said Nikki.

  “Do you want the Bella burger or the Edward burger?” asked the cashier.

  “What's the difference?” inquired Nikki.

  “The Bella burger is a one-third pound patty and the Edward burger is the half pound,” offered the Wolfman.

  “I guess I'll take the Bella burger with everything on it, but no cheese.” Nikki seemed confident in her order placement.

  “And you ma'am?” asked the cashier turning his attention to Anna.

  “Should you be wearing a hair net?” blurted Nikki before giving Anna a chance to respond to the Wolfman cashier's request.

  The Wolfman laughed. “Funny. Do you know how many times I hear that in a day? A million and one, that's how many. And no, I don't work with the food. I just take the orders and receive payment.”

  Anna giggled. “She was probably serious with that question.”

  Nikki didn't respond to Anna's comment. Instead perused the rest of the menu items while Anna placed her order. “I'll order the Frankenstein double burger with no onions.”

  “Sounds good,” said the cashier grinning, his Wolfman white plastic novelty teeth gleaming.

  “Anything special about that burger?” inquired Anna curiously.

  The Wolfman cashier laughed. “It's a double meat double cheeseburger with square hamburger patties. We use food coloring to make them green. You can request to not have the food coloring in case that might gross you out to eat it that way.” He glanced over at Anna after his explanation.

  “No, I'm not squeamish,” replied Anna. “I've seen all kinds of things in all sorts of colors. “I'll take it as is.”